Trump Announces Travel Ban On 12 Countries

Dhaka: The Trump administration signed a proclamation on Wednesday, suspending travel to the United States for citizens from 12 countries: Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

Citing national security concerns, the proclamation argues that these countries lack adequate vetting and screening measures needed to identify foreign nationals who may pose safety or terrorism risks to the U.S.

The proclamation also partially restricted entrance for nationals of seven other countries: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.

Other considerations include a country's information-sharing policies, presence of terrorists, visa overstay rates and whether citizens who are sent back are readily accepted, it said.

The ban is set to take effect on Monday at 12:01 a.m. ET.

In a video released by the White House on Wednesday night, Trump said that on his first day in office, he directed the secretary of State to perform a security review of“high-risk regions” to make travel restriction recommendations.

He also cited the Sunday attack on Jewish protestors in Boulder, Colorado, in the video. The man charged in the assault, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, is an Egyptian national. Egypt is not named in the new travel ban.

The policy mirrors a similar travel ban announced in January 2017, one week into Trump's first term, which banned travel from seven Muslim-majority countries. That policy, while largely criticized, was ultimately upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018.

That ban was later ended by President Joe Biden in 2021.

Democratic lawmakers took to social media to voice opposition to the latest ban. They include Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., who posted on X:“Make no mistake: Trump's latest travel ban will NOT make America safer. We cannot continue to allow the Trump administration to write bigotry and hatred into U.S. immigration policy.”

The new policy applies to foreigners from the named countries who are outside of the United States and who lack visas to enter as of Monday, June 9.

Certain travelers are excepted from the rule, it states, including U.S. permanent residents, athletes traveling to attend major sporting events, and immediate family members with“clear and convincing evidence of identity and family relationship,” citing DNA as an example.

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